Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking all about that piece out money. All right,
Speaker 1: Joel Man, we are back. You're back from Orlando. We
Speaker 1: spent some time down at thin Con, which is a
Speaker 1: super nerdy financial conference. That's where money and media meat.
Speaker 1: We fit right in, dude. For me, what I loved
Speaker 1: about it was that being self employed for the past
Speaker 1: over ten years now, that I haven't had, I guess,
Speaker 1: an excuse to go to something like this where there's
Speaker 1: a big conference and folks are all talking the same language.
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking nerdy financial stuff. We're talking about
Speaker 1: financial independence, real estate, things like that. And to be
Speaker 1: able to do that with something that we care so
Speaker 1: much about was awesome. You know. Going there, we learned
Speaker 1: a ton. We got to meet a lot of people
Speaker 1: where I got to meet a lot of people. These
Speaker 1: are a lot of folks that you have known for
Speaker 1: years now, Yeah, but there's also a bunch of new
Speaker 1: people there this year that I never met to. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was fun to reconnect because this was my fifth
Speaker 1: time at finn Con, right, So it's really fun to
Speaker 1: reconnect with people that I've gotten to know over the
Speaker 1: years and hang out with. But then it was also
Speaker 1: super fun to meet new people that I've never met before.
Speaker 1: But the thing is, you know, online we're interacting with
Speaker 1: people all the time on Twitter or on blogs or
Speaker 1: whatever that do similar things to what we're doing, people
Speaker 1: that we respect and admire and are We're just super
Speaker 1: interested in what they're creating and how they're helping people.
Speaker 1: And that's the cool thing about finn Con. It's like,
Speaker 1: really it's it's this atmosphere of people that want to
Speaker 1: help other people with their money exactly. Yeah, man, it's
Speaker 1: so cool. And so it's just like culture of service,
Speaker 1: and man, it just makes me think and want to
Speaker 1: redouble our efforts here, like let's give them something useful,
Speaker 1: right that every episode that we create, not only do
Speaker 1: we have fun, do we get to drink an awesome beer, right,
Speaker 1: but we get to you know, care for and interact
Speaker 1: with the people that listen to the show. Man. That's
Speaker 1: that's my favorite part. Every time we get an email,
Speaker 1: every time you know, the people that listen are interacting
Speaker 1: on our Facebook group. That's just that's so much fun
Speaker 1: for me. And so yeah, I love that part of it,
Speaker 1: and I love that all these other awesome folks at
Speaker 1: Finncon are kind of doing it in their own separate
Speaker 1: niche in their own blog or podcast or wherever they're
Speaker 1: reaching people, and it's it's a beautiful thing. So you
Speaker 1: mentioned new folks. It also reminded me of our new
Speaker 1: buddy Scott and he is working on a documentary on
Speaker 1: financial independence. It's called Playing with Fire and they launched
Speaker 1: a kickstarter, which used to do a lot as a
Speaker 1: kid playing with fire. That that is so true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I played with fire a lot. But uh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a documentary that they kicked off and they launched a
Speaker 1: kickstarter at the beginning of the conference and it is
Speaker 1: doing incredibly well. We are supporters of that documentary as well.
Speaker 1: Scott was a great dude. I actually met him kind
Speaker 1: of randomly and like in the elevator. That's what's so
Speaker 1: cool about something like this, right, you just kind of
Speaker 1: bump into somebody, start chatting trins out. He just had
Speaker 1: a trailer to his documentary played at the opening keynote.
Speaker 1: When I saw it, I was like, Scott, this is fantastic, man.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be so good and I'm super excited
Speaker 1: to just see you know how this is gonna play
Speaker 1: out and just how this is going to have an
Speaker 1: impact on not just the money in media, but just
Speaker 1: specifically to financial independence. Right. But yeah, we want to
Speaker 1: get that information out there for you as our listener,
Speaker 1: if you want to go check it out, it's playing
Speaker 1: with fire dot c O. And so we'll post a
Speaker 1: link to in the show notes to that Kickstarter page,
Speaker 1: to that website. Because yeah, Scott's an amazing dude, and
Speaker 1: the documentary looks like it's gonna be amazing because it
Speaker 1: follows him and his family and kind of their path
Speaker 1: to financial independence. He's got a little daughter. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of cool to see how they grabbed ahold of
Speaker 1: it and kind of changed the way they lived, which
Speaker 1: not just getting their finances together, but man, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about in regards to financial independence, it's kind of
Speaker 1: this wholesale life change, focusing on the things that actually
Speaker 1: matter and not just money and spending as much as
Speaker 1: you can, right right, And so so yeah, this's gonna
Speaker 1: be a cool documentary. But also inside that he interviewed
Speaker 1: so many people that are just amazing thinkers in this space.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be really fun from an artistic standpoint,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be really fun from the interviews that are
Speaker 1: in there and just following Scott and Taylor's story, so
Speaker 1: I'm super stoked to see it. It It looks like it's
Speaker 1: gonna be released in February, so yeah, we'll pust the
Speaker 1: link there, and I would just encourage anyone just go
Speaker 1: give a few dollars, just be in support of it
Speaker 1: because it's gonna be really fun. And you know, Matt
Speaker 1: and I are excited to go to a screening when
Speaker 1: it comes to the Southeast, comes to Atlanta. We're totally
Speaker 1: gonna be there and do whatever we can to support
Speaker 1: this documentary. It's it's really neat. Yeah, man, that's right.
Speaker 1: So let's mention the beer that we're drinking today. Matt.
Speaker 1: This is only our second home brew we've ever had
Speaker 1: on the show, but I'm really pumped. So today we
Speaker 1: have a beer from I guess a brewing group, a
Speaker 1: group of guys that gets together and they call themselves
Speaker 1: the Yeast Atlanta Brewers, which is awesome because we live
Speaker 1: in East Atlanta and these guys are the Yeast Atlanta Brewers,
Speaker 1: and so this was really kind of John. He donated
Speaker 1: a four year old beer that he made that's been
Speaker 1: like just chilling uh in his in a seller. It's
Speaker 1: got a legit seller with with you know, lines on top.
Speaker 1: He's got it all. So I'm super excited to have
Speaker 1: this one. It's an ud bruin uh And we've had
Speaker 1: that style actually recently on the show. Yeah, so we
Speaker 1: kind of fun to compare a d bruin from last
Speaker 1: week that was kind of made by the pros and
Speaker 1: then this one made by the guys that live in
Speaker 1: our neighborhood. All right, Matt, let's get into the subject
Speaker 1: for today. We're all about that peace out money. And
Speaker 1: this is kind of a topic that people have discussed
Speaker 1: from time to time. And the most popular term I've
Speaker 1: heard used for peace out money, that's what we're gonna
Speaker 1: call it, but a lot of people call it f
Speaker 1: you money in the financial space. And so we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about like why we don't call it a few
Speaker 1: money in just a second, But really, peace out money
Speaker 1: addresses this core issue because, as it turns out, the
Speaker 1: majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and they
Speaker 1: don't even have a thousand dollars in the bank. And
Speaker 1: so when that's the case, you feel tied to your
Speaker 1: job and like you have no other options, and so Matt,
Speaker 1: you and I feel like peace out money. That's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna call it. That this can majorly address that issue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. So that's the answer, right, And so we're
Speaker 1: defining it as just having enough money to leave a
Speaker 1: situation where you could technically stay. You know, you're finde there,
Speaker 1: you're making money even though you could technically stay, you're
Speaker 1: not going to You're going to choose not to, and
Speaker 1: so to have the money that allows you to do that.
Speaker 1: That's how we're going to define piece out money to
Speaker 1: essentially throw up the peace sign with your fingers. Piece
Speaker 1: out like two fingers out one right, because if you
Speaker 1: money is like the one finger, and piece out money's
Speaker 1: like the two fingers, right, And so you're you're saying,
Speaker 1: all right, you know what, I've got what I need
Speaker 1: and I'm out of here, whatever it is. And so
Speaker 1: we yeah, we think you can do this in a
Speaker 1: respectful way. And we'll talk about like all the benefits
Speaker 1: of having this piece out money, like how you actually
Speaker 1: a crew piece out money and what it's actually used for.
Speaker 1: But ultimately, piece out money is kind of more of
Speaker 1: an attitude than it even is a financial position. Right.
Speaker 1: It is important to have that money in your bank
Speaker 1: account to back you up when you're ready to say
Speaker 1: your piece out to a job, or piece out to
Speaker 1: a situation that you're in that you find yourself uncomfortable
Speaker 1: and and having that amount of money in your bank
Speaker 1: account to back you up, right is crucial. But it
Speaker 1: also is an attitude. And I like this quote from
Speaker 1: Johnny Carson, former late night host, right, he said, all
Speaker 1: that means is that I don't have to do what
Speaker 1: I don't want to do, right. And I've heard that
Speaker 1: from a lot of performers, especially if you're an artist,
Speaker 1: if you're a stand up comedian and someone says, hey,
Speaker 1: you can't say that, Hey you need to take this
Speaker 1: down from your website, whatever it is. I remember an
Speaker 1: article that Mr money Mustache wrote a while a while
Speaker 1: back that a credit card issuer wanted him to take
Speaker 1: one cuss word that he put on his website off
Speaker 1: of it, and it was gonna mean forty dollars for him,
Speaker 1: but it meant ultimately a compromise of his values to
Speaker 1: do it, and so he said, no way, not gonna
Speaker 1: do it. That's the kind of peace out money that
Speaker 1: we're talking about. Get out of here. I don't need
Speaker 1: your money. I have to I'm gonna live life on
Speaker 1: my terms. Yeah. I think it was actually forty a month.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Right, Yeah, that's a lot of money. Yea,
Speaker 1: if I remember right, it was a serious amount of Yeah,
Speaker 1: serious amount of money. I think it was forty forty
Speaker 1: k a month. We'll try to find that article on
Speaker 1: post a link to the show. Yeah, that'd be great.
Speaker 1: And kind of going back to the you know that
Speaker 1: the fu money. It's not that we're pose necessarily to
Speaker 1: the foul language, but it's just mostly the idea that
Speaker 1: you're burning things down as you leave. Right. You caught
Speaker 1: me all sorts of terrible things, but we just don't
Speaker 1: like burning bridges, first of all, Like we don't feel
Speaker 1: that that's, you know, how you should necessarily treat others.
Speaker 1: It's just not how we necessarily operate as far as
Speaker 1: finding revenge, you know, exacting revenge on somebody or feel
Speaker 1: like you're kind of sticking it to them. And then secondly,
Speaker 1: jobs and just other opportunities that are out there are
Speaker 1: just too well connected, you know, and so it's Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's in our best interest. It's in your best interest
Speaker 1: to not behave that way. The world is just so
Speaker 1: connected now, and chances are if you were to do
Speaker 1: something like that and really stick it to maybe a
Speaker 1: former employer, I don't think that would work out too
Speaker 1: well for you. Yeah, there's ways to say peace out
Speaker 1: with two fingers right whe where you're doing it in
Speaker 1: a kind of conscientious way. You're maintaining connections with people,
Speaker 1: You're maintaining a humanity and a human relationship to it. Really,
Speaker 1: what it is, it's about this mindset, and it's about
Speaker 1: having the money in your bank account to back it
Speaker 1: up that says, you know what, I don't need this
Speaker 1: job right now. I'm ready to move on to something else.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go in a different direction with my life. Plus,
Speaker 1: our daughters just love saying peace out, you know, every
Speaker 1: time they leave there like piece out homies. I know,
Speaker 1: I think I got my daughter starreading to be on
Speaker 1: this stuff like that. So yeah, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: move on to the benefit first. You know, having peace
Speaker 1: out money it allows you the ability to step away
Speaker 1: temporarily from a job. It could be for health reasons,
Speaker 1: for for you individually, or maybe even for a family member,
Speaker 1: or there might be just other sort of issues that
Speaker 1: might be going on with your family, or even honestly,
Speaker 1: to quit a job altogether. If there's just another opportunity
Speaker 1: that comes along, it's something that would be much much
Speaker 1: riskier if you did not have that piece out money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't have any money in the bank account,
Speaker 1: if you don't have anything backing you up financially, you
Speaker 1: can have the mindset that you want to piece out
Speaker 1: all you want, right, so you've gotta have that financial backing.
Speaker 1: That's what that piece out money is, is this money
Speaker 1: combined with your mindset. And it also emboldens you to
Speaker 1: ask for the things that you really want. So maybe
Speaker 1: you don't want to step away from your job. Maybe
Speaker 1: everything's fine, you love your job, you don't want to quit,
Speaker 1: But it also emboldens you to ask for those things
Speaker 1: that you want, maybe a different project or position you'd
Speaker 1: like to take. Well, it gives you that empowerment to
Speaker 1: ask for a raise or to negotiate even harder. Maybe
Speaker 1: it involves less schmoozing. Right, you don't have to be
Speaker 1: there for events that you don't want to be a
Speaker 1: part of. Or gives you the ability to opt out
Speaker 1: of meetings that you don't feel like are important for
Speaker 1: you to be a part of. Yes, so it lets
Speaker 1: you like call your own shots and be actively involved
Speaker 1: in the process of what your work looks like. And
Speaker 1: that's because it changes the outlook on what you're currently doing.
Speaker 1: You can actually appreciate your work for what it is
Speaker 1: and not just for that paycheck that's coming in. Awesome, man,
Speaker 1: I love that. You know, also something else you should
Speaker 1: hopefully be doing the right thing anyway at work, right,
Speaker 1: But I think having a little bit of that backing right,
Speaker 1: like you just said, a little bit of that piece
Speaker 1: of money can hopefully give you that additional courage, a
Speaker 1: little more fortitude to stand up for what's right, to
Speaker 1: kind of stand up for what you actually believe in
Speaker 1: instead of maybe being pressured sometimes to do the things
Speaker 1: that you feel that the company is doing. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: might feel pressured to do something that might be a
Speaker 1: little unethical or honestly even illegal, or take the most
Speaker 1: expedient choice. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And if that's the case,
Speaker 1: and even still hopefully money is not an issue for
Speaker 1: you to make the right decision, but having that they're
Speaker 1: definitely helps. Yeah, mat So on that note, I feel
Speaker 1: like it's really interesting that people with certain high level
Speaker 1: government jobs, especially with access to top secret information, and
Speaker 1: certain high level private sector workers just aren't eligible for
Speaker 1: some of these positions with access to greater information if
Speaker 1: they have high levels of debt or if they're just
Speaker 1: in a bad money situation, and that's because their employer
Speaker 1: or the government thinks that being in a bad financial
Speaker 1: situation opens them up to the possibility of blackmail from
Speaker 1: a foreign government or competing company. I think that that
Speaker 1: speaks volumes right of how our personal finances can impact
Speaker 1: at times our ability or willingness to do something that's
Speaker 1: expedient or better in the short term for us not
Speaker 1: thinking about the long term game. And this kind of
Speaker 1: idea of having some peace out money, of having some
Speaker 1: financial stability in your life allows us to say, you
Speaker 1: know what, no to the short term thing that might
Speaker 1: seem like the best for right now, for today, but
Speaker 1: ultimately in the end, we're going to be really bummed,
Speaker 1: and we don't want to tell our kids that we
Speaker 1: made that decision, and we don't want to have to
Speaker 1: live with it for the rest of our lives. We
Speaker 1: would rather do the thing that is right or the
Speaker 1: thing that that we think is best for us or
Speaker 1: for our company. But we might choose to make that
Speaker 1: quick and easy decision that ultimately isn't best, and it's
Speaker 1: because we're in a bad financial standing. And I will say, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I've made a necessarily a moral
Speaker 1: decision that was bad because of a bad financial standing.
Speaker 1: But I will say, when I had no money, I
Speaker 1: feel like I made stupider money decisions. I remember distinctly
Speaker 1: buying a car that was just cheap, and that cheap
Speaker 1: car ended up costing me more in the long run.
Speaker 1: It was just a bad money decision. And so when
Speaker 1: you don't have that financial backing, you're just prone and
Speaker 1: susceptible to making quicker decisions, and often ones that aren't
Speaker 1: as well thought through and can ultimately be more harmful
Speaker 1: for you further down the road. Yeah, man, I think
Speaker 1: that's absolutely true. Uh. And this also applies not only
Speaker 1: to jobs, but also in personal relationships. You know, you
Speaker 1: might be dating someone who you feel isn't like quite
Speaker 1: the right one. Better not you're married, I said, do
Speaker 1: you not me? Uh? And you'd call it quits maybe,
Speaker 1: except you feel a little, you know, financially dependent on them.
Speaker 1: And this could also be the case to like in
Speaker 1: a housing or a roommate situation, you know, like you've
Speaker 1: got a roommate or you feel you need to have
Speaker 1: a roommate because you're in a position of sort of
Speaker 1: financial weakness, like you don't have a lot of strength,
Speaker 1: and you're like, well, I need to take this on
Speaker 1: and this isn't a great situation, but I I need
Speaker 1: this roommate, you know, I need this to pay the
Speaker 1: rent or I need this to pay the mortgage. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think this could also even apply to
Speaker 1: unhealthy relationships with parents. A lot of times parents certainly
Speaker 1: have more money than children do, and sometimes it can
Speaker 1: kind of get weird, you know, it can get weird
Speaker 1: when there's money involved, and how that can affect the relationship,
Speaker 1: how that can affect the dynamics. And I think that's
Speaker 1: definitely something worth considering and worth keeping in mind when
Speaker 1: it comes to having the ability to have that money
Speaker 1: on hand. Yeah, and Matt, I think too. We're not
Speaker 1: advocating necessarily saying peace out to personal relationships, right and
Speaker 1: saying well I'm done with you, but having peace out
Speaker 1: money allows you to kind of change the dynamic of
Speaker 1: relationship that might be unhealthy or a relationship that you
Speaker 1: can see, you know what this it's time for me
Speaker 1: to move on, or if you know that it's not
Speaker 1: working out, you know, it's just feeling trapped in the
Speaker 1: same way that sometimes we feel trapped in our jobs,
Speaker 1: which our relationships right their employer employee relationships, but the
Speaker 1: same thing with you know, yeah, with interpersonal What makes
Speaker 1: me think about our friend Grant, who runs the website
Speaker 1: Millennial money dot com, and he tells a story about
Speaker 1: how when he was in his mid twenties moving back
Speaker 1: in with his parents and you know, eating dinner with
Speaker 1: them every night, and it just changed the dynamic of
Speaker 1: their relationship that he was living at home and his
Speaker 1: parents thought, you know, you know what, it's probably time
Speaker 1: for Grant to be like out of the nest, you know,
Speaker 1: doing his own thing. And he felt that dynamic, right,
Speaker 1: he understood, and he wanted to be out of the
Speaker 1: nest too, and so then he just kind of got
Speaker 1: him motivated to work harder and get that piece out
Speaker 1: money and feel like he could leave. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: that he want to say piece out to his parents.
Speaker 1: It was it was that the dynamic was off, it
Speaker 1: wasn't what he wanted to be, and having that money
Speaker 1: gave him that power right to bring that like relationship
Speaker 1: dynamic back to what he wanted it to be with
Speaker 1: his parents, where he wasn't dependent on them in his
Speaker 1: mid twenties, but where he kind of could have his
Speaker 1: own life. And I think at that point in your life,
Speaker 1: in your mid twenties, that's kind of the relationship you
Speaker 1: want with your parents. You don't want to be dependent
Speaker 1: on them. You you feel a sense of that. It's
Speaker 1: that it's kind of weird, right that you're still dependent
Speaker 1: on them at that age. And I remember going through
Speaker 1: that at at different times. Specifically, I moved back in
Speaker 1: with my parents for a few months when my roommate
Speaker 1: moved to another state and I was saving up my
Speaker 1: last few dollars to buy, you know, my first house,
Speaker 1: and that three months was like really hard for me
Speaker 1: as a year old to move back in with my parents. Um,
Speaker 1: I was like super thankful that I had that ability
Speaker 1: to go land there, but it was hard mentally. Relationally,
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that we're close. I love my parents, but
Speaker 1: it was weird, right, And and so I just think
Speaker 1: that that peace out money developing, that having that ability
Speaker 1: it can change the dynamic of relationship that you feel
Speaker 1: like has gotten tweaked in a way that you didn't
Speaker 1: want it to be. Yeah, man, that's right. There are
Speaker 1: countless benefits to having peace out money. Um. And as
Speaker 1: we talk about this too, it sounds like we might
Speaker 1: be talking even more about financial independence, and it's not
Speaker 1: the way we're defining it. In the way we're talking
Speaker 1: about it. Peace out money is different than being financially independent,
Speaker 1: and after the break we will tell you how. Okay, man,
Speaker 1: So we just touched on this, but having peace out
Speaker 1: money is not the same thing as hitting or achieving
Speaker 1: financial independence. And so specifically financial independence or PHI like
Speaker 1: we refer to it sometimes is being able to do
Speaker 1: whatever you want, whenever you want and essentially indefinitely. Right.
Speaker 1: It's sort of the pinnacle. That's that's the goal that
Speaker 1: a lot of us are sort of loosely chasing after,
Speaker 1: or some folks are going after it like hardcore essentially
Speaker 1: not having to work anymore where you don't need that income,
Speaker 1: all right, man. Yeah, So think of piece our money
Speaker 1: as more of many retirement compared to early retirement. Right,
Speaker 1: peace out money gives you that ability to change course,
Speaker 1: find a new career, or go back to school, even
Speaker 1: start a new business, even if you're not financially independent, right,
Speaker 1: because that that's like a big bar to try to
Speaker 1: achieve becoming financially independent. That takes usually for most people
Speaker 1: a lot more than a decade even yeah, yeah, years
Speaker 1: and years. But peace out money can be achieved rather
Speaker 1: quickly and gives you that ability to say, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't have to do anything I don't want to
Speaker 1: do for the next three months. But there's some people
Speaker 1: that have prioritized many retirements, which means I take a
Speaker 1: little bit of time here. I take a little bit
Speaker 1: of time two years from now, uh, and I get
Speaker 1: to pursue the things that I want. I get to
Speaker 1: travel for a little bit, live cheaply, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But I'm not committing myself to a full time day job.
Speaker 1: And think of peace of money kind of like that.
Speaker 1: It's not this full on early retirement. I'm done, but
Speaker 1: it is this mini retirement where you get to take
Speaker 1: a break. It's like stop gap financial independence, you know,
Speaker 1: like Cobra health insurance. It's sort of like this sort
Speaker 1: of filler like in the meantime, like you said, while
Speaker 1: you're trying to sort of redirect your career or figure
Speaker 1: out what it is that's most important to you. It's
Speaker 1: sort of like a bridge to kind of get you
Speaker 1: from the work that you're doing now to the work
Speaker 1: that you're gonna want to do on the other side
Speaker 1: of that. It's not the absence of work, it's kind
Speaker 1: of getting from work now, so what you actually want
Speaker 1: to be doing after the fact. Yeah, So that's the
Speaker 1: biggest difference. You need that piece of money and it
Speaker 1: helps smooth that path. So that brings up the question.
Speaker 1: I feel like, Matt, at what point have you achieved
Speaker 1: this goal of peace out money? There is no magic number,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, and it's different for everyone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's almost less of a goal, and it's just
Speaker 1: sort of like this thing that you're working on, you know,
Speaker 1: it's sort of like this fund that you're kind of
Speaker 1: building up to deploy, you know, when the time arises
Speaker 1: when you are finally fed up, maybe with your job,
Speaker 1: or maybe when you see an opportunity that comes along
Speaker 1: where you think, you know, this is going to require
Speaker 1: six months of my time, or this is going to
Speaker 1: require a few months of me hanging out with my
Speaker 1: family what you know, it doesn't have to be work related.
Speaker 1: It can just even be a personal value sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So it's not like there's gonna be a point at
Speaker 1: which you feel like you've achieved it. It's not like
Speaker 1: financial independence like we said, uh in that way, but
Speaker 1: it's something that you're you're working towards. So figure out
Speaker 1: your goals, you know, again, whether that be a six
Speaker 1: month road trip maybe with some friends, or just taking
Speaker 1: a year off to start a business, that length of
Speaker 1: time is what's going to determine how much peace out
Speaker 1: money you need to have on hand. Yeah, So depending
Speaker 1: on what your goal is, that kind of determines the
Speaker 1: level of peace out money you need to be working
Speaker 1: to achieve. So you need to make sure you have
Speaker 1: enough set aside to cover your living expenses for that
Speaker 1: period of time, assuming that you'll be able to begin
Speaker 1: working or earning again when they time period is up.
Speaker 1: So if you are taking that year to start a business, right,
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna be working the whole time, but
Speaker 1: you're gonna be building that thing that you want to build, right,
Speaker 1: and so you're gonna need a year's worth of peace
Speaker 1: out money. While you are able to say, buy to
Speaker 1: your day job and go work at this business that
Speaker 1: you know is going to be successful, that you are
Speaker 1: excited to create and that gets you jazz to wake
Speaker 1: up every morning. Right, that is worth it. That is
Speaker 1: worth a year's worth of expenses. And so it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you have to be financially independent, but you do
Speaker 1: have to have that year's worth of peace out money
Speaker 1: in order to make that dream a reality. So, dude,
Speaker 1: speaking of something that I wanted to create, that's exactly
Speaker 1: what Wiki and I did when it came to our
Speaker 1: photography company. You know, I was working full time as
Speaker 1: a graphic designer, and we had this dream to start
Speaker 1: our own business and to we'll be able to work together.
Speaker 1: And we were able to do that. Man, we had
Speaker 1: saved up enough money. We had, you know, our peace
Speaker 1: out money set aside. Also though we were making money
Speaker 1: from the very beginning, and so for us, it wasn't
Speaker 1: as risky or as scary of a step because from
Speaker 1: a one we're able to start earning some income, you know,
Speaker 1: from our side gig. But that being said, if we
Speaker 1: didn't have any money, if we didn't have any of
Speaker 1: that piece out money in case things would have fell flat,
Speaker 1: it would have been much much scarier to have stepped
Speaker 1: away from that W two you know, Yeah, Matt, And
Speaker 1: that makes me think about episode thirty five that we
Speaker 1: talked about creating a dope side hustle, and it kind
Speaker 1: of intertwines with this. If that's something that you really
Speaker 1: want to do, you want to create your own thing,
Speaker 1: go check out that episode and I think you know
Speaker 1: what you're talking about there. That was your side hustle
Speaker 1: that turned into a full time gig. But the thing
Speaker 1: that bridged you over right from side hustle to being
Speaker 1: a full time gig was that peace out money. It
Speaker 1: gave you that buffer that said, you know what I
Speaker 1: can fail or not do as well as I think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do for a period of time while I'm
Speaker 1: building this thing up, and that piece out money, man,
Speaker 1: it gave you a lot of confidence to tackle that
Speaker 1: endeavor that you felt compelled to do. Yeah. And something else, man,
Speaker 1: is that we didn't have uh any debt when we
Speaker 1: were able to to take that on. Had we had
Speaker 1: a lot more debt or you know, any payments sort
Speaker 1: of hanging over our head, we would have had to
Speaker 1: have a massed and stored up a much fatter uh
Speaker 1: piece out money stash, right, and that may have sort
Speaker 1: of throwing a wet blanket on our dreams to kind
Speaker 1: of start our own business. And so because we were
Speaker 1: living frugally, and we'll talk more about that a little
Speaker 1: bit later, but we were able to sort of chase
Speaker 1: after what it was that we wanted to do sooner.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, after the break, we'll talk about where
Speaker 1: you should be putting your piece out money and how
Speaker 1: you should be thinking about it if you don't feel
Speaker 1: like you even have a solid goal in mind yet.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, back to the break, and we want
Speaker 1: to talk about where you should be keeping your peace
Speaker 1: out money because we've talked a lot kind of about
Speaker 1: the philosophy behind it, why you want to accrue it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now the nuts and bolts, man, nuts and bolts, lay
Speaker 1: it on us. Well, you don't want to tap your
Speaker 1: four oh one k right in the event of feeling
Speaker 1: like you need to get get out of a situation,
Speaker 1: feeling like you need to quit your job, or it's
Speaker 1: time to start your own business, or even if you
Speaker 1: just want to get out of a living situation, right,
Speaker 1: Like we mentioned earlier, tapping her four oh one k,
Speaker 1: getting those reserves, you know, in paying the tax and
Speaker 1: penalties associated with it, that's not what you want to do.
Speaker 1: So your piece out money should not be in long
Speaker 1: term investments, I will say, you know, over time, years
Speaker 1: and decades of accruing investments like that can actually kind
Speaker 1: of help you and give you a little more fortitude
Speaker 1: when it comes to making decisions that might not be
Speaker 1: in the best interest of your pocketbook but in the
Speaker 1: best interest of your life choices. But to live on
Speaker 1: for the time being when you're making an important decision,
Speaker 1: that piece out money needs to be liquid and readily available,
Speaker 1: and alternative source of income is also just really helpful.
Speaker 1: Uh So this can either come from say like a
Speaker 1: rental or maybe a side hustle that you have. Um
Speaker 1: and this is definitely, uh something that's great to have
Speaker 1: if you're younger. But not having just that massive sort
Speaker 1: of war chest, right that you saved up for this
Speaker 1: this opportunity or for whatever reason it is that you know,
Speaker 1: want to be able to take some time off. That
Speaker 1: is not the only way to be able to have
Speaker 1: that piece out money. You know, you have sort of
Speaker 1: this stack of cash, but then you can also have
Speaker 1: that sort of side source of income and that will
Speaker 1: help offset the amount of money that you need to
Speaker 1: have set aside in order to piece out. Yeah, something
Speaker 1: else that kind of helps offset that amount of money
Speaker 1: that you need is living a frugal lifestyle. Right In
Speaker 1: a while Backmatt, in one of the in one of
Speaker 1: our episodes, we talked about how frugality gives you options,
Speaker 1: and it kind of is the same exact thing here.
Speaker 1: Just living a frugal lifestyle, less money coming out of
Speaker 1: your account every month than is coming in and buy
Speaker 1: a wide margin, right living that frugal lifestyle. If you're
Speaker 1: spending is equivalent to your earnings, you can't save up
Speaker 1: piece out money. It's not possible. You'll be a perpetual
Speaker 1: slave to your job. So listen to episode number twenty
Speaker 1: eight for more on how frugality can give you those options.
Speaker 1: Cutting back and making sure that you're able to save
Speaker 1: more and more of your paycheck gives you that piece
Speaker 1: out money much more quickly. And then also it means
Speaker 1: that you have a lesser lifestyle to fund while you're
Speaker 1: trying to achieve that new goal or make that life change, dude.
Speaker 1: I love that. That's awesome. Also, be brave and take
Speaker 1: those risks. There's no point and having that piece of
Speaker 1: money if you don't use it when the time comes
Speaker 1: and when you need it. You're not just saving up
Speaker 1: that money. It's to become wealthier and to fatten your
Speaker 1: your checking account or your savings account. You're you're creating
Speaker 1: that piece of money in order to make your life better.
Speaker 1: You know, when there's opportunities, like we keep saying that
Speaker 1: come along, that is when you need to put that
Speaker 1: money into use. You have that money for opportunities. It's
Speaker 1: there to make your life better. It's not there just
Speaker 1: to make you feel richer or to inflate your lifestyle. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: that makes me think too that you should start working
Speaker 1: on that piece o money fund now, even if you
Speaker 1: don't really know what your goal is, right. So I
Speaker 1: feel like too, especially if you're listening to this and
Speaker 1: you're in your early twenties and you're not sure, like,
Speaker 1: why would I started asking this fund? I don't really
Speaker 1: know what my goal is, right, I'm new to the
Speaker 1: work world and I'm kind of figuring out the ropes
Speaker 1: right now. Well, the piece of money fund is still
Speaker 1: really important for you because in a few years you're
Speaker 1: gonna kind of start to realize what you like, what
Speaker 1: you don't like about your job, what you want out
Speaker 1: of a career, and building up that piece out money
Speaker 1: fund now gives you that ability kind of right when
Speaker 1: you start to realize it, to to make some moves.
Speaker 1: And for someone right now who doesn't have a piece
Speaker 1: out money fund and they are stuck in a job
Speaker 1: or stuck in a living situation that they're not thrilled about, right, well,
Speaker 1: you gotta start working on it now. Uh. And there's
Speaker 1: there's no better time than the present to make a change,
Speaker 1: to increase your savings rate and to start developing that fund. Yes, So,
Speaker 1: no matter whether you are early on in your work
Speaker 1: career and you don't have your goal yet, or you're
Speaker 1: just starting to realize that you don't really love your
Speaker 1: career and you also don't have a goal in mind,
Speaker 1: we'll start working on that piece out money fund now.
Speaker 1: And it might take some time to realize what that
Speaker 1: goal is, but start also kind of putting that time
Speaker 1: in mentally to think about what it is you really
Speaker 1: want out of life. Yeah, man, you know, honestly, This
Speaker 1: makes me think of like the Why behind Money episode
Speaker 1: that we did, and I feel like this is one
Speaker 1: that we're gonna read is it constantly because for so
Speaker 1: many people, that's that's where they are. They might be,
Speaker 1: like you said earlier in the career and they don't
Speaker 1: know exactly why they're sort of saving up their money.
Speaker 1: They're like, well, why would I want to do that?
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have any clear cut goals, I
Speaker 1: don't have any sort of aspirations beyond what I'm doing
Speaker 1: right now and I'm enjoying it, So why would I
Speaker 1: want to, you know, have piece out money. Well, the
Speaker 1: fact is there will likely come a time when you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to make a change, and it's always helpful
Speaker 1: to you know, to have savings to invest, or to
Speaker 1: have margin, to be able to take time off, or
Speaker 1: to have piece out money to say all right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take this new opportunity giving yourself that that margin,
Speaker 1: and essentially that's kind of all piece out money is, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you can call it different things. You can call it
Speaker 1: an emergency fund, or you can call it a cushion,
Speaker 1: but what you use it for, in my mind, that's
Speaker 1: what makes it piece out money, right, Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: mindset behind it. Yeah, it's that next step. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: how am I going to get from here to there?
Speaker 1: Like how am I going to bridge that gap to
Speaker 1: do what I really want to do and what I
Speaker 1: really love? And that, to me, that's it. That's like
Speaker 1: the essence of peace out money. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but it's really making me think about Michael Jackson's Man
Speaker 1: in the Mirror right now, right, I'm asking her to
Speaker 1: make a change. No, maybe, m I love it, man,
Speaker 1: that's a classic Man in the Mirror. But really, we
Speaker 1: want you to do what you love and and not
Speaker 1: work for the money. And because I I it's super cliche, right,
Speaker 1: but if you love what you do, right, you don't
Speaker 1: feel like you don't work a day in your life.
Speaker 1: And I feel like, Matt, you and I are both
Speaker 1: in this amazing position where we both really love what
Speaker 1: we do and neither of us make crap tons of money,
Speaker 1: but we just really like going to work every day.
Speaker 1: We like the people that we work with, we like
Speaker 1: the projects that we work on. Right, And that's that's man.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's really fortunate. I feel like, at
Speaker 1: least for me, you know, I had a lot of
Speaker 1: clarity for some reason, I don't know why, early on
Speaker 1: about what I wanted to do and and and that's
Speaker 1: been great. I feel like some people don't have it
Speaker 1: until a little bit later, and that's okay. But that
Speaker 1: peace out money can allow you that that bridge right
Speaker 1: to smooth the path as you're trying to get onto
Speaker 1: the next thing that you know what, now I've had
Speaker 1: this moment of clarity. Now I realized that I want
Speaker 1: to make this change, and that piece out money just
Speaker 1: makes it easier to look at that man in the
Speaker 1: mirror and make that change. Yeah. Yeah, and also too,
Speaker 1: I mean you said to not work for the money,
Speaker 1: but like some folks might have a great paying job
Speaker 1: and they may not think, well, I don't necessarily completely
Speaker 1: love what I do, but I like it a lot.
Speaker 1: And so I think to those people, I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people that might follow in that boat, right,
Speaker 1: And to those folks, I would say, like, don't work
Speaker 1: just for the money, Like there's a lot of reasons
Speaker 1: why you might have that job, but just make sure
Speaker 1: that money isn't just the only reason. And like just
Speaker 1: saying that kind of sounds privileged to say, oh, just
Speaker 1: do you know, do what it is that you love
Speaker 1: follow the millennial dream. And I'll admit to that to
Speaker 1: a certain extent. However, anyone can have peace out money
Speaker 1: if they're not spending every single dollar that they're earning.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt. Back to the beer yeast, Atlanta Brewers
Speaker 1: are Buddies donated an fod brewin that's been chilling in
Speaker 1: John's so Aller for four years. And this was a little,
Speaker 1: really nice little homebrew. Yeah, man, I'm with you. It's
Speaker 1: it's actually super cool, like you mentioned earlier, to have
Speaker 1: this right after we had something similar to this last week.
Speaker 1: And how would you compare it, like compare the two,
Speaker 1: because because I would say that this is crazy easy drinking,
Speaker 1: I don't know with the A B V on it,
Speaker 1: because it's just written on a bottle with like a
Speaker 1: marker that's that says he's the London Verso Bruin, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, like literally reads old brown aile. So
Speaker 1: it's like a it's a like a flameders brown. So,
Speaker 1: you know, not unlike what we had last week, except
Speaker 1: that this one it's not aged in barrels and it's
Speaker 1: not aged on fruit, but it's still got the same flavors.
Speaker 1: It's it's got like almost a little bit of like
Speaker 1: Sayson kind of funk to it, but still really delicious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, it's it's nice. The tartness level is just
Speaker 1: barely there, which is kind of nice. Makes it really sessionable.
Speaker 1: You feel like you could drink this this beer really quickly.
Speaker 1: But it's also really got a lot of flavor packed
Speaker 1: into it at the same time. So I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: this beer. Um, it's really good. It's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those styles that I feel like, I often like
Speaker 1: the more abrasive beers, the beers that like pack this punch,
Speaker 1: that slapping in the tongue, and this one those are
Speaker 1: like kind of prize beers where you're like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna plan my whole evening around this one beer. Right
Speaker 1: where this I'm like I could do I could drink
Speaker 1: this with any of Kate's cooking and it would be
Speaker 1: so good, you know, completely completely. I Yeah, I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, and I love kind of how it's mellowed
Speaker 1: out in the bottle over a few years hanging out
Speaker 1: in John cellar, and man, I think this is just
Speaker 1: a really fantastic beer for especially being just dudes to
Speaker 1: get together and brew on their downtime. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is really really tasty. They definitely have learned a lot
Speaker 1: about the brewing process because this is not a weak
Speaker 1: beer by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, man, it
Speaker 1: is strong. So John, thank you so much for donating
Speaker 1: this beer. Man, We really appreciate it. Thank you for
Speaker 1: supporting the show. All right, Joel, let's do some final thoughts.
Speaker 1: Peace out money it is having enough money to leave
Speaker 1: situations where you could technically stay, but you're gonna choose
Speaker 1: not to. And it's as much of an attitude as
Speaker 1: it is a financial position and piece of money. It
Speaker 1: gives you just lots of different benefits and options, whether
Speaker 1: it be with work or in your personal life. So
Speaker 1: how much peace out money do you need? Well, you
Speaker 1: need to look at your goals, whether it's taking a
Speaker 1: road trip or starting a business. That specific goal is
Speaker 1: going to be the determining factor in how much peace
Speaker 1: out money you're actually gonna need to meet those living expenses,
Speaker 1: that's right, man. And then the how to You want
Speaker 1: your piece out money to be accessible, You want it
Speaker 1: to be liquid, you don't want it to be tied
Speaker 1: up in retirement accounts. You want it in cash, and
Speaker 1: ultimately we want you to be brave take a risk
Speaker 1: right like life is not about taking the safe and
Speaker 1: simple path. Having some peace out money gives you that
Speaker 1: boldness to do something different or take your life in
Speaker 1: a radically different direction that you might have thought impossible
Speaker 1: without that money in the bank backing you up. All right, man,
Speaker 1: I think that's it, So everyone, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. Our home on the web is how to
Speaker 1: money dot com. We'll have our show notes up there
Speaker 1: for you with some helpful links. Yeah. If you like
Speaker 1: what you hear and you found this podcast to be helpful,
Speaker 1: let us know by giving us a review on Apple
Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen. We'd love to hear from you,
Speaker 1: and be sure to subscribe WHI you're there. Until next time, man,
Speaker 1: Best friends out, Best Friends Out.